Harry Kenneth Vaughan was born on 14 March 1947 in the Hopewell Community in unincorporated Fulton County, now a part of the City of Milton. He attended Milton High School and graduated in May 1967. He was drafted shortly after graduation. After completing Basic Training and Infantry Advanced Individual Training, CPL Vaughan arrived in the Republic of Vietnam on 18 January 1968.

On 7 March 1968, while assigned to Company A, 2d Battalion {Mechanized), 4th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division, as a Track Operator on an Armored Personnel Carrier {APC), CPL Vaughan’s unit was in the lead position in a column during an operation from Fire Support Base Gray in Bien Hoa Province. As the APC moved off road into the Binh Son rubber plantation, the APC detonated a large buried “booby trap”. The blast killed Corporal Vaughan instantly as well as five others in his APC. Corporal Vaughan died in the service of his country and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart.

Additionally Corporal Vaughan was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Sharpshooter Badge with Rifle Bar, and the Marksmanship Badge with Automatic Rifle Bar.

He is buried at the Hopewell Baptist Church Cemetery in the City of Milton,  and is memorialized at Freedom Park.